


hard to be soft, tough to be tender

by fiveyaaas



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Ballroom Dancing, Dancing, F/M, Fluff, Jealousy, Light Angst, kind of, set before five leaves, there is some horrance and alluther in here too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:55:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25657768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fiveyaaas/pseuds/fiveyaaas
Summary: ““Number Seven will be assisting in the training today,” Reginald said, looking annoyed that Diego had spoken without his permission.Five frowned at Vanya. She didn’t seem to know why she was there either. He imagined a horror scenario of Diego throwing knives at her.“It is essential to the Academy that you all must carry an air of elegance and propriety. Due to this, I have asked Grace to teach you all the basics of ballroom dance.”Everyone glanced nervously at each other. Five found his gaze going to Vanya, who was trying to hide behind her bangs.”ORA quick fic based off the mention of Reginald forcing them to learn how to dance in season 2.
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy/Vanya Hargreeves
Comments: 29
Kudos: 419





	hard to be soft, tough to be tender

**Author's Note:**

> It’s mentioned in season two that they were all taught to dance, and a couple people in the discord mentioned that someone needed to write a fic for it. I decided to make it pretty soon before Five leaves, so there’s a little bit of angst but it’s overall pretty much fluff.

When Five told Vanya that he planned to time travel, she did not take it well. 

Five had expected her to be encouraging- to ask questions about when he wanted to go, to ask how long it would be before she could come along when he travelled. However, the second he told her, she frowned and excused herself, saying that she needed to practice. His jaw had clenched, wondering why she would waste the ten minutes left they had for free time. 

At dinner that night, he tried to catch her gaze multiple times. She stared intently at the meal like she had woken up not knowing how to eat. 

Three days passed, none of which she spoke to him. He tried going to her room once, but Pogo was inside when he jumped. Clearing his throat quickly, he told them both that he had been pacing and must have accidentally blinked in. Internally, he winced, but neither of them seemed to think anything of it. 

He decided by the fourth day that he was tired of trying to get her attention, and he started talking to Ben more. Vanya was his favorite, but he nevertheless enjoyed talking with Ben. 

“Are you ignoring Vanya?” Ben asked him on the eighth day of not speaking to her. (Five felt it was important to note that he only kept track of the days because he was observant of his surroundings, and it had nothing to do with feelings or anything else.)

“No,” Five told Ben. “Why do you think so?”

“Well, first of all, when you and Vanya are at the table together, you aren’t sharing those looks all the time,” Ben started. 

“We don’t  _ share looks _ .”

“ _ Second _ of all, Vanya asked me if you have mentioned her at all, making me think that you are avoiding her. What did you do?” 

“What did  _ I  _ do?” Five sputtered. Why did Ben just assume it was him who did something wrong?

“You know very well that of you and Vanya, you’re much more volatile.”

“Well, actually,  _ she’s  _ ignoring _ me _ .”

“I doubt that. Just apologize for being a dick, Five, it really does not have to be a big deal.”

The problem was that it kind of was. Five was perfectly aware that Vanya was mad at him because he wanted to time travel. He didn’t understand why, but apologies were supposed to mean someone would change their future behavior, and Five still intended to time travel. 

They abruptly stopped speaking when Reginald walked to the training room, Vanya closely behind him. Vanya glanced over at him quickly and he offered what he hoped was a convincing smile, but she looked away. 

“Why is Vanya here?” Diego asked. 

“Number Seven will be assisting in the training today,” Reginald said, looking annoyed that Diego had spoken without his permission. 

Five frowned at Vanya. She didn’t seem to know why she was there either. He imagined a horror scenario of Diego throwing knives at her. 

“It is essential to the Academy that you all must carry an air of elegance and propriety. Due to this, I have asked Grace to teach all of you the basics of ballroom dance.”

Everyone glanced nervously at each other. Five found his gaze going to Vanya, who was trying to hide behind her bangs. 

“I will be gone during this lesson as I have another commitment currently, but I expect you all to treat this task with seriousness,” Reginald said, already turning to leave. Him being gone actually had potential for this to not be entirely horrible. 

Grace stepped forward, and Five wondered what in her programming made her practically invisible at times, going completely unnoticed by him on more than one occasion. 

“Hello, children,” Grace said, voice too bright to ever be mistaken for real. “Do any of you have a preference for who you’d like to dance with?”

Allison’s hand, predictably, shot up when she, predictably, asked for Luther. Five stifled an eye roll, about to open his mouth (whether it was to make a scathing remark or to ask Grace if Vanya could be his partner, he was uncertain) before Vanya’s hand raised slightly. 

“Yes, dear?” Grace asked with an encouraging smile to Vanya. 

“Could I dance with Diego, please, Mom?” 

Ben sighed loudly when Five coughed loudly. 

Grace looked over at him. “Five, dear, have you been feeling under the weather? Have you had this cough for very long? You look a little pale.”

Five was pretty certain he would rather have been stabbed than to have everyone stare at him. 

“I’m perfectly fine!” he said, ignoring Ben rolling his eyes next to him. 

“Alright, great. Diego, do you mind dancing with Vanya?”

Diego eyed Five from where he was standing before he said, “Of course, Mom.”

Grace beamed before addressing Klaus, who had his hand raised as well. Klaus asked if he could dance with Ben, saying that he was perfectly fine not leading so that the lesson could be more efficient. If it had been Reginald, Five knew the answer would have been undoubtedly no, but Mom smiled and told him that was an excellent idea. 

“Alright, that leaves Number Five with me,” Grace said, and Five considered time traveling right then to a nice, simple time when he could be burned at the stake for doing math. 

He ignored the laughter he heard following him as he walked to Grace, glaring at the space in front of him and deciding that he would treat this as the training it was. 

Of course, once his robot mother asked if he would place his hand on her waist, he wanted to yell at all of them, especially Vanya who was trying to convince Diego to follow the same direction as Grace had given. 

Allison and Luther easily followed the stance Grace was instructing, and Ben kept making faces at Klaus like Klaus had said something to offend him (but he followed easily as well.) 

“Mom, Vanya stepped on my foot,” Diego complained. “Please tell her to stand better.”

“What does that even mean?” Five snapped at him, groaning internally that he had followed his natural instinct to defend Vanya because now she was looking at him and he wasn’t sure if she was angered or grateful for his interference. 

Vanya spoke up, “I don’t have to do this, Mom. Nobody ever sees me in public anyways, so it’s not a big deal if I don’t know how.”

Five felt a pang in his chest, and he wished he hadn’t ignored her the past few days. She would probably still say things like that, but at least he could have reassured her that she was just as important as the others. 

“Maybe I should work with Diego,” Grace suggested, glancing between Diego and Vanya. “Five, are you okay working with Vanya?”

“That’s fine,” he said too quickly, but he thankfully switched places with Diego.

When Grace started to instruct them on the basic moves of a waltz, Five murmured in Vanya’s ear, “Diego’s just mad he didn’t get to dance with Mom.”

Vanya let out a startled giggle, dropping her hand quickly to place against her mouth so nobody would notice. He grinned at her when she was looking away. 

Ballroom dancing was relatively simple compared to the training he regularly received, but he kept worrying he would mess it up somehow. He was not a self-conscious person by any means, but he desperately hoped that one of the few instances when Vanya was able to learn with them outside of academic lessons would not be the one he messed up on. Based on Vanya’s blush, he imagined she felt the same, though Vanya was a self-conscious person by all means. 

“You’re doing well,” he encouraged her quietly, glad that the others were focused so they couldn’t hear them speak.

“Five,” Vanya whispered, voice so soft that he was certain the others wouldn’t hear even if they were not focusing on the task at hand.

“Yeah?” he asked, eyes scanning the room on instinct. They were nearly always safe in the Academy, at least from outside forces, but he had the tendency to be more paranoid now that the Academy was more public. 

“What if you get hurt?”

Five frowned at her. “I’ll be perfectly fine time-traveling, Vanya. You don’t need to worry about that.”

“Dad says-,” 

“Dad doesn’t know shit,” Five laughed a little. “I’ll be fine, I promise. Pretty soon, I can take you with me, and we can go wherever and whenever you want to be.” 

She blushed. “I just want you to be safe is all.”

“I will,” he told her. “Don’t you want to see what the world has to offer?”

She smiled, hiding behind her bangs again, and he wished he could brush them from her face and make her look up at him. It was a confusing thing to want, and he didn’t understand why he wanted it. “I would like to be anywhere with you, but I still think it’s dangerous. At least ask Dad, Five.”

Five sighed. “I will, I promise.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all for reading! Also, how do you guys feel about me writing some Horrance? (Likely T rated fluff or angst, maybe adding some benkliego too.) I loved them in season 2 so much!


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